I got some good tractor time this week, driving as straight as I possibly could and enjoying some nice fresh fall air here in Oregon.
We cultivate 1-2 times a year when the plants are small. It helps us knock down weeds, conserve moisture in the soil and the plants seem to enjoy the looser dirt around them. 
As you can see in the photo above, a few weeds slip through. Those will have to be taken care of down the road.
Happy Friday everyone!!
This year we grew our first crop of cabbage for seed. It is always fun to add a new crop to the farm, although learning curves can be steep, we had a lot of help to get the crop to harvest. But then came harvest, and using a brand of combine that no one had used before, we hit the ground running and patiently tweaked on our yellow gal for about 3 hours to get her all set right. 
There was lots of climbing inside the combine to double check what was going on. 
I got to drive the harvester, my pregnant belly still fits so far! 
And I got a few helpful riders to keep me company.
We dumped it into our truck to took it down the road to Triangle Farms. It was then unloaded into boxes and taken to be stored until it is cleaned. 
It’s really pretty seed! 
So even though it took awhile to get it all set right, it was a fun process of trial and error to get the crop to look like what we wanted!
And now the yellow combine heads back to join the John Deere in ryegrass harvest. Back together again!
Happy Friday!
You never know where blogging is going to lead you. Since starting this blog in 2012 one of the things that I have enjoyed most is the friendships and connections I have made. Not only with other farmers across the country, but other foodies, bloggers, moms and the like. So when I got an e-mail from another blogger who I met at a conference in April, asking to come to our farm and take some photos, I jumped at the chance. I always enjoy having people come and visit our farm. Seeing our operation through the eyes of someone else, especially a photographer is always something that I admire. New perspectives, new insights, and great questions have always motivated me to never turn down a chance to show someone around our farm.
The blogger I showed around is named Sara, and while not a farmer by trade, she is a mom and a consumer who wants to know more about where food comes from, who are those behind the wheel of the tractor, and in general more about our food and agricultural industry. You can check out her awesome blog that covers everything from bees to junk food, food dye to GMO‘s at ItsMomSense.com.
So for her most recent Farming in Focus post she wrote about and posted photos of our farm and all the crops that we have growing this time of year. She even got to come out and watch some pea harvesting! Just click the photo below to check out some great photos and good commentary from a new set of eyes about Kirsch Family Farms!
NuttyGrass 